Judge binds Lowery over for future trial

Judge Jo Beth Weber found probable cause to bind 38-year-old Phillip Lowery over for trial following a preliminary hearing in White County Circuit Court Wednesday morning.

Lowery is charged with one class 2 felony count of aggravated criminal sexual abuse after he allegedly had a four-year-old girl fondle him in his Carmi home on repeated occasions between April and December 2010.

Judge Jo Beth Weber found probable cause to bind 38-year-old Phillip Lowery over for trial following a preliminary hearing in White County Circuit Court Wednesday morning.

Lowery is charged with one class 2 felony count of aggravated criminal sexual abuse after he allegedly had a four-year-old girl fondle him in his Carmi home on repeated occasions between April and December 2010.

White County State's Attorney Denton Aud called Illinois State Police Detective Rick White to the stand as the state's lone witness. White told the court the case unfolded in June 2012 when the alleged victim's mother was scrolling through some photos on her cell phone. She pointed out a picture of one of Lowery's children, said White, and asked the girl if she remembered when the child in the picture's mother used to babysit her.

White said the girl told her mother she did remember and also said, "You know what he used to do to me every time I was over there? He made me play with his ******."

White said the mother called a family member to their residence and the girl, now six years old, relayed the same story to the family member.

White County Sheriff Doug Maier was notified and he called in White to investigate since Lowery was employed as a correctional officer at the City-County Jail at the time of the offense and the report of the offense.

Lowery has since been placed on administrative leave from the jail pending disposition of the case.

White said the girl was taken to the Guardian Center in Carmi where a forensic interview was conducted. The girl allegedly told investigators the offenses occurred after he mother would drop her off at Lowery's residence, which is just down the alley from the jail, around 4:30 a.m.

The girl was let in the house by Lowery's wife who would then return to bed and the girl would be left to sleep on the couch in the living room.

The girl alleged Lowery would get off work at 7 a.m., walk home and be alone with her in the living room and that is when the offenses would occur. Lowery would then drop the girl off at a daycare center in Carmi.

White said Lowery was interviewed and corroborated that he was alone in the living room with the girl and he would drop her off at daycare but was adamant in his denial of the girl's allegations, saying, "I never hurt that girl."

Lowery's attorney, Alan Downen of McLeansboro, asked White if the interview with Lowery was tape recorded. He said it was not recorded. He also asked if there was any evidence of the allegations besides the girl's verbal statements to interviewers and White said the only evidence in the case was the girl's allegations that allegedly started when she was three then continued after she turned 4 in June 2010.

On re-direct, Aud asked White about the girl identifying Lowery in a photo line-up and he confirmed that she had a couple of days after the forensic interview.

The judge found probable cause to continue the case to trial. She also entered into the record an order prohibiting Lowery from having unsupervised visits with any children as an additional condition of his bail.

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